Sunday, March 31 2019

07:30 Lois and I can't stay lying in bed more than 30 minutes today - there's too much to do. We drink our morning tea, and I hand over to her the mother's day cards and mother's day gifts from me and from Alison, our elder daughter. Then we get up and rush into the shower. Busy Busy Busy!

10:00 We talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah, our younger daughter, who lives in Perth, Australia, along with Francis and their 5-year-old twin daughters, Lily and Jessie.

Sarah's accountancy job at one of the state's largest landscaping firms has become very stressful recently - the company has financial problems because the local building industry is currently in recession. She has applied for another accountancy job at a nationwide company that manufactures and sells central heating appliances and systems (for both commercial and domestic customers), also for air conditioning and suchlike. The company's headquarters are based in Balcatta, a small suburb of Perth.

She has just been invited to a second job interview with them - on Tuesday, this time with the company's CEO, which sounds promising.

10:45 The whatsapp call ends and Lois and I chat a little about Sarah's chances of getting the job. I remind Lois that CEO's  themselves can sometimes be as nervous as the applicant, or occasionally even more nervous. The recent case of local company director Greg Bricker comes to mind (source: Onion News).

Local company director Greg Bricker, who during his Monday morning  press conference was worrying out loud that he had come across as fidgety and unassertive, confided to journalists that he had completely screwed up his latest interview with a potential employee.

"I was a little nervous that I hadn't prepared enough going into it, and as soon as I entered the room, I just kind of froze up," said a visibly frustrated Bricker, who admitted that while he had prepared some good talking points, he did not make enough eye contact, laughed too loudly at the candidate's jokes, and ended the interview with an embarrassingly weak handshake.

"Projecting self-confidence is key in these situations, but I was totally off my game. I didn't even have anything to say when asked if I had any more questions. Not good."

Bricker then lamented that the applicant probably had a lot of other interviews that were in the pipeline this week and that there was no point trying to follow up with him after such a lacklustre performance, because there was no way he would ever hear back from him.

I think about sending Sarah an email referring to this positive news, to encourage her, but she probably  simply does not need any support from me - she doesn’t seem to find it difficult to get job interviews. Local employers seem to be falling over themselves to offer her jobs, which is nice to put it mildly!

11:00 Lois has to leave. She has agreed to teach a Sunday School lesson this morning in Tewkesbury Library, where her sect holds its regular worship services every Sunday.

She has to be home again by 1 pm so we can have lunch here, go to bed for an hour and then drive into town - we have tickets for a baroque music concert taking  place at 3 pm in the town’s largest Anglican church, St Matthews, located in the town centre.

11:15 I have a bit of alone time, and pop into the kitchen to make two portions of lunch that we can eat when Lois comes back after teaching her Sunday School lesson.

I start to leaf through the next 2 chapters (39-40) of Njal's saga, written in the 13th century in Iceland, although the saga itself and the events are much older. This book is the U3A Old Norse group's current project. The group will be holding its next meeting on Wednesday in the town’s Everyman Theatre.

Another 2 very exciting chapters. The feud between the two women Hallgerd and Bergthora is in full swing. In each round of the feud, Hallgerd gets one of her employees to kill one of Bergthora's employees. Bergthora then reciprocates and gets her revenge on Hallgerd by getting one of her own employees to kill one of Hallgerd's employees.

The two women originally became enemies after a massive fight over the seating plan at a dinner - good grief, what madness!

  

Hallgerd

Bergthora

Hallgerd and Berghthora's feud originally stemmed

from a simple fight over the seating plan at a dinner – what madness!

In these 39th and 40th chapters, Bergthora decides to escalate the feud. So far, all the victims have been slaves, but now she sets about having one of Hallgerd's freedmen (i.e. ex-slaves) killed, the hapless Brynjolf.

My god, the piles of dead bodies are mounting up. Before long, the entire population of Iceland, already not particularly numerous in the early Middle Ages, will all be dead - yikes!

13:00 Lois comes back from Tewkesbury. She says she was just about to take her Sunday school students out of the main meeting room to give them their lesson in an adjoining room, when the preacher asked them to stay where they were, so they could hear his sermon, which was suitable for both adults and children, he said. Lois and her girlfriends protested that she had already prepared a lesson for the children, but the preacher insisted apparently.

Poor Lois! But her preparations will not be in vain - she can teach her lesson next Sunday instead. But the whole thing is a reminder that in Lois' sect it’s the men who decide everything, and the women tend to be reluctant to oppose what the men want. The sect bases its practices on the church in New Testament times, when the men were generally considered far more important than the women, to put it mildly.

13:15 We have lunch and afterwards we go to bed for an hour or so. We get up at 2:15 pm and drive into town. We have tickets for a Baroque music concert taking place in the town’s largest Anglican church, St Matthews.

On the programme are three cantatas composed by J S Bach: "Ich habe genug", sung by the charming young soloist Felicity Turner; and then "Christ in Todes Baden" and "Lobet den Herrn", both performed by the Cheltenham Bach Choir.

Personally, my favourite work this afternoon is the first item on the programme with soloist Felicity Turner, whose voice is nothing less than angelic, in my opinion. Hearing her sends me into seventh heaven for 30 minutes or so, which is nice.

Felicity Turner, the young mezzo-soprano with the angelic voice

We sit and wait for the concert to begin

After the concert, the choir wins a round of enthusiastic applause

16:30 We drive home and relax with a cup of tea and the luxury biscuits that are Lois' mother's day gift from our daughter Alison - yum yum!

Lois with the luxury biscuits that our daughter Alison

sent her as mother's day gift - and the biscuits are rapidly disappearing, 

to put it mildly!

I take a little look at my smartphone. My sister Gill has posted a charming mother's day photo of herself and her youngest daughter Lucy on "Insta". Gill, Peter and Lucy are on a week's vacation in Sandringham, Norfolk, to recharge their batteries.

My 61 year old little sister Gill and her youngest daughter, Lucy,

who is training to be a lawyer

18:00 Lois and I are both exhausted, and putting the clocks forward one hour has disturbed our equilibrium - I have no doubts about that. We have dinner, two of the low-fat ready-made meals we bought at CookShop the other day.

20:00 We spend the evening watching a bit of television. We see a couple of documentaries, but I doze off a little from time to time, I have to admit.

We didn't know that Tasmanian devils' immune systems had developed a resistance to the face cancer that in recent years has threatened to annihilate the species – a resistance that has just come simply from natural selection, which is interesting. My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

07:30 Lois og jeg kan ikke blive liggende inde i sengen mere, end 30 minutter i dag – der er for meget at lave. Vi drikker vores morgenté, og jeg rækker hende hendes morsdagskort og morsdagsgaver fra mig og fra Alison, vores ældste datter. Bagefter står vi op og skynder vi os ind i brusekabinen. Travlt travlt travlt !

10:00 Vi snakker lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores yngste datter, der bor i Perth, Australien, sammen med Francis og deres 5-årige tvillingedøtre, Lily og Jessie.

Sarahs revisorjob hos et af delstatens største landskabsarkitekturfirmaer er blevet meget stressende for nylig – selskabet har financielle problemer på grund af, at den lokale bygningsbranche også er i recession. Hun har ansøgt om et andet revisorjob hos et firma, der fremstiller og sælger apparater og systemer til centralvarme (for både kommercielle og private kunder),  airconditionering og den slags. Firmaet har tilhuse i Balcatta, en lille forstad til Perth.

Sarah er lige blevet inviteret til en 2. jobsamtale hos dem – på tirsdag, denne gang hos firmaets direktør, hvilket lyder lovende.

Vi ønsker hende tillykke med jobsamtalen, og vi minder hende om, at direktøren sandsynligvis er m

10:45 Whatsapp-opkaldet slutter, og Lois og jeg snakker lidt om Sarahs chancerne for at få jobbet. Jeg minder Lois om, at selve direktører nogle gange kan være så nervøse som ansøgeren, eller lejlighedsvis  endnu mere nervøsr. Den nylige tilfælde af lokal direktør Greg Bricker kommer i mine tanker (kilde: Onion News).

Den lokale selskabsdirektør Greg Bricker, der i mandags i løbet af en pressekonference bekymrede sig højlydt for sig selv over, at han gav det indtryk af, at være helt kedelig og svag, betroede reportere, at han fuldstændigt fuckede op sit seneste interview med en potentiel medarbejder.

"Jeg var lidt nervøs, at jeg ikke havde forberedt nok lige før starten, og så snart jeg gik ind i lokalet, følte jeg mig helt lammet," sagde en synligt frustreret Bricker, der indrømmede, at mens han havde en par gode diskussionspunkter forberedt, gjorde han ikke nok øjenkontakt, lo for højt på kandidatens vittigheder og afsluttede samtalen med et pinligt svagt håndtryk.

"Dét at projicere selvtillid, er nøgleelementet i disse situationer, men jeg var helt ude af form. Jeg havde ikke engang noget at sige, da han spurgte om jeg havde flere spørgsmål. Ikke godt."

Bricker beklagede derefter, at ansøgeren sandsynligvis havde en masse andre interviews, der var i opsejling  i denne uge, og at der ikke var brug for at følge op med ham efter sin så svag præstation, fordi  der ikke var nogen måde, han nogensinde ville høre tilbage fra ham.

Jeg overvejer at sende Sarah en email, der henviser til dette positive nyhed, for at opmuntre hende, men det kan være, at hun simpelthen ikke har brug for min støtte – hun synes ikke at have svært med at få jobsamtaler. De lokale arbejdsgivere synes at falde over sine egne ben for at tilbyde hende jobs, hvilket er rart, for at sige mildt!

11:00  Lois skal af sted. Hun har aftalt at undervise en søndagsskolelektion i formiddag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek, hvor hendes sekt hver søndag holder sine regelmæssige gudstjenester.

Hun skal komme hjem igen senest kl 13, så vi kan spise frokost herhjemme, gå i seng i en time og bagefter køre ind i byen – vi har billetter til en barokmusikkoncert, der finder sted kl 15 på byens største anglikanske kirke St Matthews, som ligger i bymidten.

11:15 Jeg har lidt alenetid og skynder mig ind i køkkenet for at lave to portioner frokost, som vi kan spise, når Lois kommer tilbage efter at have undervist sin søndagsskolelektion.

Jeg går i gang med at blade igennem de næste 2 kapitler (39-40) af Njals saga, skrevet i det 13. århundrede i Island, selvom selve sagaen og begivenhederne er meget ældre. Denne bog er den lokale U3A oldnordiske gruppens nuværende projekt. Gruppen holder sit næste møde på onsdag i byens Everyman-teater.

Endnu 2 meget spændende kapitler. Fejden mellem de to kvinder, Hallgerd og Bergthora er i fuld gang. I hver omgang af fejden får Hallgerd en af sine ansatte til at dræbe en af Bergthoras ansatte. Bergthora gør så gengæld og hævner sig på Hallgerd ved at få en af sine ansatte til at dræbe en af Hallgerds ansatte.

De to kvinder skændtes oprindeligt på grund af en strid om bordplanen til en fest – sikke et vanvid !!!!

Hallgerd,

Bergthora

Hallgerd og Berghthoras fejde stammede oprindeligt

fra en strid om bordplanen til en fest

I de 39. og 40. kapitler beslutter Bergthora at eskalere fejden. Hidtil har ofrene været slaver, men nu har hun til hensigt at dræbe en af Hallgerds frigivne slaver, Brynjolf.

Du godeste, bunkerne af døde kroppe hober sig op. Inden længe vil hele befolkningen, der ikke var særlig talrig i det tidligere middelalder i Island,  være død – yikes!

13:00 Lois kommer tilbage fra Tewkesbury. Hun siger, hun skulle lige til at tage sine søndagsskoleelever med ud af det hovedsagelige mødelokale for at undervise sin lektion i et tilstødende værelse, da prædikeren bad dem om at forblive der, så de kunne høre sin prædiken, der var egnet til både voksne og børn, sagde han. Lois og hendes veninder protesterede, at hun allerede havde forberedt en lektion til børnene, men prædikeren insisterede på det.

Stakkels Lois!  Men hendes forberedelser vil ikke være forgæves – hun kan undervise sin lektion næste søndag i stedet for. Men det hele er en påmindelse om, at i Lois’ sekt er det mændene, der beslutter alting, og kvinderne har tendens til ikke at modsætte sig det, mændene ønsker. Sekten baserer sine praksisser på kirken i tiderne af det nye testament, da mændene generelt blev betragtet vigtigere, end kvinderne, for at sige mildt.

13:15 Vi spiser frokost, og bagefter går vi i seng i en time, eller deromkring. Vi står op kl 14:15 og kører ind i byen. Vi har billetter til en barokmusikkoncert, der finder sted i byens støste anglikanske kirke, St Matthews.

På programmet er tre kantater komponeret af J S Bach: ”Ich habe genug”, synget af den charmerende unge solist Felicity Turner; ”Christ lag in Todes Baden” og ”Lobet den Herrn”, begge to opført af Cheltenham Bach Choir.

Personligt er mit yndlingsværk i eftermiddag det første værk på programmet med solisten Felicity Turner, hvis stemme er ikke mindre, end helt englelig, for at sige mildt. Dét, at høre hende, sender mig i den 7. himmel i 30 minutter elller deromkring, hvilket er rart, og ikke sker særlig ofte.

Felicity Turner, mezzosopranen med den englelig stemme

Vi sidder og venter på, at koncert begynder

Efter endt koncert, vinder koret en runde af begejstret bifald

16:30 Vi kører hjem og slapper af med en kop te og luksuskiksene, som er Lois’ morsdagsgave fra vores datter Alison – yum yum!

Lois med de luksuskiks, som vores datter Alison

sendt hende som morsdagsgave – og kiksene er ved at forsvinde hurtigt, for at sige mildt!

Jeg kigger lidt på min smartphone. Min søster Gill har lagt et charmerende morsdagsfoto af sig selv og sin yngste datter Lucy op på ”Insta”. Gill, Peter og Lucy er på en uges ferie i Sandringham, Norfolk, for at genoplade deres batterier.

Min 61-årige lillesøster Gill og hendes yngste datter, Lucy,

der uddanner sig til advokat

18:00 Vi er begge to helt udmattede, og det, at sætte urene 1 time frem, har forstyrret vores ligevægtighed – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om. Vi spiser aftensmad, to af de fedtfattige færdigrette, vi forleden købte hos CookShop.

20:00 Vi bruger aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn, og programmerne er Lois’ valg i aften, på grund at, at det er morsdag. Vi ser et par dokumentarfilm, men jeg blunder lidt fra tid til anden – det må jeg indrømme.

Vi vidste ikke, at tasmanske djævles immunsystemer havde udviklet en modstand mod den ansigtskræft, der i nylige år har truet om at tilintetsgøre arten, bare ved hjælp af naturlig selektion, hvilket er interessant. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!